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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2011

Minister is economical with economic truth

HONG KONG — Japan's economy supremo, 72-year-old Kaoru Yosano, clad in his regulation ministerial "Action Man" powder-blue boiler suit and heavy gumboots ready to spring into emergency mode instantly, claimed last week that the damage to the country's economy from the earthquake and tsunami would be...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 20, 2011

This awful tragedy will show Japan's true character to the world

Some people look for moral lessons in disasters, concentrating on a baby pulled out of the rubble of an earthquake days after it struck and calling it a "miracle." But a tsunami of the scale that crashed against the manmade seawalls along the Pacific Coast of the Tohoku region in northeast Japan left...
Reader Mail
Mar 20, 2011

U.S. Navy could boost power grid

Regarding Jun Hongo's March 16 article, "One certainty in the crisis: Power will be at a premium": One way Japan might increase the production of electricity is to work a deal with the U.S. government. The U.S. Navy has a ready supply of mobile nuclear power plants that can provide enough electricity...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 17, 2011

Kanto area works on energy conservation

On Monday evening, customers at a Starbucks cafe in Tokyo's Nakano ward sipped their lattes in the glow of a single row of lamps and a handful of small, battery-powered tea lights. Such scenes have become common in Tokyo as people across the Kanto region strive to conserve energy after Friday's devastating...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 16, 2011

Through the shaking, Japan comes together

For centuries, Japan had operated on the unvoiced logic that the only certainty in this world is disaster — specifically, tensai (天災, heavenly disaster). Four centuries ago, Edo (江戸, Old Tokyo) citizens said to each other that they had four major things to fear: jishin (地震, earthquakes),...
LIFE / Digital
Mar 16, 2011

Sorting through information after the quake

In the wake of the tragic earthquake and subsequent tsunami last Friday, people in Japan — and indeed all over the world — have been scrambling to sort through the news in search of information they can trust.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2011

Samsung, Ford, Boeing produce but fear parts halt

Samsung Electronics Co., Ford Motor Co. and Boeing Co. are maintaining global production while waiting for partners in quake-rattled Japan to increase one key export: information.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2011

Helpful websites, phone numbers

Locating family and friends:
CULTURE / Books
Mar 13, 2011

Consumed by the darkness

PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS: The Fate of Lucie Blackman, by Richard Lloyd Parry. Jonathan Cape, 2011, 404 pp., £17.99 (hardcover) This July 1 will mark 11 years since former British Airways stewardess Lucie Blackman agreed to accompany a customer at the Roppongi club where she had been working as a hostess...
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2011

Sony revamp to place Hirai in crucial role

Sony Corp. said Thursday it will reorganize its main electronics businesses and promote the star of its gaming operations to lead a new consumer products division.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 10, 2011

Robocon founder Dr. Masahiro Mori

Dr. Masahiro Mori, 84, is a specialist in robotics and Emeritus President of the Robotics Society of Japan. Mori is the founder of Robocon, the robotics contest he started in 1981 when he was a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since then, Robocon has developed into the world's most famous...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2011

Expedia has big Asia travel plans

Asia's Internet-based travel market, including in Japan, is growing rapidly and the world's largest online travel agency said Tuesday it wants to cultivate it further.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 6, 2011

Profiles of 'nice people'; Seicho Matsumoto thrille; CM of the week: Softbank

Teruyoshi Uchimura and Kiyotaka Nanbara, better known as the comedy duo Utchan Nanchan, have tended to work separately in recent years, but they make a rare joint appearance as the hosts of the variety special "Konna Ii Hito Mita Koto Nai" ("I've Never Seen Such a Nice Person"; Nihon TV, Fri., 7 p.m.)....
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Mar 5, 2011

New-style ramen targets female noodle-lovers

Ramen shops diversify their stocks, toppings and presentations in hopes of attracting female noodle-lovers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 4, 2011

Martiniburger: Enjoy your burger shaken, not stirred

Martiniburger. It's a great name for a restaurant. Even before you arrive you can picture it in your mind: As sleek as a cocktail lounge, with subtle lighting, cool music and even cooler people tucking into prime patties of best beef. And you wouldn't be far wrong.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 27, 2011

Skipping the ads gets harder as shows become infomercials

In the late 1990s, I did piece work for a public relations company, translating achievement reports into English for its non-Japanese clients. The reports outlined how and where the company had secured mentions of its clients' products in various media, and included equivalent advertising value amounts...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2011

DoCoMo adds smart phones, tablet to lineup

NTT DoCoMo Inc. unveiled two new smart phones and a tablet device Thursday as the carrier aims to penetrate more aggressively into the growing Japanese smart phone market.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Feb 24, 2011

Designing with the grain

For kids branching out to art Last year, Kana Nakanishi caught our attention with Koke-a, an unusual piece of furniture with a mosslike surface of tufted wool on which to relax — her graduate project for Finland's Alto University of Art and Design. Now she's a member of Oiseau, which has launched Mother,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2011

NTT creating sensors for seniors

The nation's top telecom carrier is developing a simple wristwatchlike device to monitor the well-being of the elderly.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 20, 2011

Mystery author Isaka writes to control his fears

Novelists all have different motivations to write. For Kotaro Isaka, an award-winning mystery writer whose books always rank high on Japan's bestseller list, it's the constant "fear" of something calamitous happening — whether it be a North Korean missile attack or an outbreak of an unknown flu virus...
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2011

Chinese online video company Synacast mulls timing of IPO

Synacast Corp., the Chinese online video company that drew a $250 million investment this month from Softbank Corp., said it has held talks with banks about a possible initial public offering as revenue surges.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 15, 2011

Osaka: What are your thoughts on the decision to cancel the Osaka sumo tournament due to the match-fixing scandal?

Atsuko Fujimoto
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 10, 2011

Driving is believing: Don't trust manufacturers' mileage claims

What kind of mileage do you get in that hybrid? Depends on who you ask.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami